extreme spiral diving

[ckporter83 0]

Am wondering what could happen if I were to hold a toggle spiral indefinitely. I've sxperienced the increase in Gs and got pretty close to being on my side .. but then I run out of safe altitude, as well as psychological comfort zone

I've heard that it's possible to actually get above your canopy .. not sure what would happen after that .. I imagine it's dangerous

Anyone have experience with this? I love to spiral my canopy, but don't want to get "carried away"

[Nicolai 0]

When spiraling there is the risk of inducing linetwists, slack lines and other not so nice situations..

But yeah spiraling is great fun - But other fun canopy drills can be done up high:-D Ask around your local DZ. The fun doesnt stop when you are under canopy, but you as, as always, have to keep your wits about you, and stay ahead of the situation.

Have fun:-D

[DocPop 1]

Spiraling stabilizes the canopy by inducing lots of line tension which increases the rigidity of the wing (Brian Germain talks a lot about how line tension is your friend).

The problem comes when there is less line tension (at the start or end of a turn) and when the rate of rotation differs between the canopy and the pilot. This is more likely to be an issue with smaller elliptical canopies as they can turn faster than larger, squarer ones.

FWIW I finish a spiral not by letting up on the inside toggle, but by pulling the outside one down to 'flare' out of the turn. This keeps the line tension while slowing the rotation of the canopy/pilot and reduces the risk of inducing line twists.

This is not really answering your original question, but I thought I'd chip in anyway!

Edited to add: Obviously, the pilot needs to be very aware of other canopy traffic when spiraling hard, and should not perform this maneuver over the set-up area or landing pattern.

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA